USB4 announced with 40Gbps bandwidth, it's based on Thunderbolt 3

05 March 2019
Intel contributed the Thunderbolt specification to the USB group and made it royalty-free. The new standard will still be backwards compatible.

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Great, this means we might actually start to see products other than laptops and "premium" smarphones/tablets start to use USB Type-C connections... Though since the majority of the consumer electronics industry - outside of laptops and "premium" smartphones/tablets - seems to be pretty anti USB Type-C, I'm not going to hold my breath.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • IWN
    • 06 Mar 2019

    ks, 06 Mar 2019Why they bother to release USB3.2 when USB 4 is launching t... moreWhich is why maybe it won't really take off, probably a short transition period for mobile phones and everything else like PC will go right to USB 4

      Nzi97, 05 Mar 2019That PCIe based connector might need new connector tho(not ... moreNo, the change isn't at the connector's end (ie Type-C or Type-A), its at the controller side of the motherboard/laptop. The pin number would stay the same.

      It would be fairly easy to do with Intel systems, but very difficult with AMD due to the way the InfinityFabric functions at the axon. The best solution seems to be to create a new standard (USB 5 ?) to allow this sort of bandwidth for many use cases (graphics, processing, communication, external PCIe boards, server stuff, etc etc). That way the new standard works with both Intel and AMD (and Qualcomm), uses the Type-C port for reversible connection, and is backwards compatible with the previous/slower USB protocols.


        • k
        • ks
        • HkH
        • 06 Mar 2019

        Why they bother to release USB3.2 when USB 4 is launching too.... makes no sense.

          • P
          • PhoneTech
          • m5M
          • 06 Mar 2019

          Hopefully usb 5 will be 100GB/s

            • N
            • Nzi97
            • tu6
            • 05 Mar 2019

            Kangal, 05 Mar 2019You still pay a royalty to use "USB" but its meaninglessly ... moreThat PCIe based connector might need new connector tho(not necessarily connector shape) since it will require a lot more pin. But the concern is we don't want another new usb connector(or the same one but more pin hence diff. naming or label) that requires different connector to utilize. It will convolute this USB situation even more

              • P
              • PhoneTech
              • 3aE
              • 05 Mar 2019

              Hope USB 5 will be 100GB/s

                IpsDisplay, 05 Mar 2019So we gonna just ignore 100w capabilities?That's not new. USB Power Delivery is still supported, though figuring out what a given USB-C cable can and can't do is a nightmare.

                  So we gonna just ignore 100w capabilities?

                    rolandudv, 05 Mar 2019It is indeed, basically a re-branded Thunderbolt 3 cable, h... moreYou still pay a royalty to use "USB" but its meaninglessly small and covered by most electronics companies. So in theory it is a paid-service, but in practice its basically free. Also, Intel were the ones who created ThunderBolt 3, and they publicly made it open and royalty-free 12 months ago (which is where all the USB-C iPhone rumours came from).

                    It looks like USB 4 is EXACTLY same as TB3.
                    So you can use your old cables and hubs from "TB3" and they will behave the same on "USB 4", since the only thing the USB Committee can achieve is a simple re-brand. And yes, like all TB3, USB 4 only comes in the Type-C form where as USB 3.2x2x2 can come in either Type-C or Type-A forms.

                    I'm sort of bummed to be honest, since I was hoping for a 8-lane PCIe connected, 100Gbps link for the future. That would bring eGPU performance up from 70% to 95% saturation (ie/ currently a GTX 1070 Ti will only be as fast as a GTX 1060 using TB3, but if upgraded like above it would be as fast as a GTX 1070, which is a huge improvement for Ultrabooks/HTPCs)

                      Kangal, 05 Mar 2019…nah screw that, I’m going to stick to my own nomenclature ... moreIt is indeed, basically a re-branded Thunderbolt 3 cable, however speeds will differ based on the quality of cable that is used.

                      This should basically clear up the facts that we currently have like...let's say 6 different type USB-C cables, all of which are different and some may not support a fast charger or above a certain Wattage. With USB4, you can basically have 1 cable for all, just like it is for Thunderbolt 3, but royalty free - meaning it'll be cheaper for both consumers and manufacturers to use.

                        I really hope that means USB-C monitor prices will drop as they currently cost an insane amount. Really looking forward to seeing more companies finally including that port.

                          Kangal, 05 Mar 2019…nah screw that, I’m going to stick to my own nomenclature ... moreIsn't it backwards compatible though?

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                            • AnonD-731363
                            • SH3
                            • 05 Mar 2019

                            Man this sounds interesting but as last words states when USB 4.0 comes to public the USB 10.0 will be available at that moment with speeds maybe
                            USB 10.0 = 10Ebps (E stands for Exabytes or 1E means 1000 Petabytes Million Terabites and Billion Gigabytes per second)

                              …nah screw that, I’m going to stick to my own nomenclature for USB (speeds rounded off):
                              USB 1.0 = 1.5Mbps
                              USB 1.1 = 15Mbps
                              USB 2.0 = 500Mbps
                              USB 3.0 = 5Gbps
                              USB 3.1 = 10Gbps
                              USB 3.2 = 20Gbps
                              USB 4.0 = 40Gbps

                              What we don't know yet is if this is simply a re-brand of the ThunderBolt 3 protocol.
                              Like if I stick a new 2019 Ultrabook which has a USB4 port, into an externalGPU enclosure (like the Razer Core, or AKiTiO Node) would the eGPU recognise it as a TB3 port? Would it work normally? Would it even communicate/work at all?

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • 8nb
                                • 05 Mar 2019

                                Sadly, still I don't have USB 3.0/3.1/3.2 in marantz's amplifier!! And this one: USB v4.0!!! (As usual I've no aptX HD)

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • MV6
                                  • 05 Mar 2019

                                  They should have have waited for Intel to make thunderbolt 4 and then make this thunderbolt based USB4 version! ;-)

                                    • L
                                    • Love the Community
                                    • Fv4
                                    • 05 Mar 2019

                                    Finally, I can afford all the LaCie products like External Hard Drives with daisy chains to a TB3 to DisplayPort Monitor and daisy chains again to another DisplayPort Monitor and erhem,

                                    D A I S Y C H A I N S!

                                    That's Thunderbolt in a nutshell.